Pop Culture Paganism question. Are entities with different character versions interpreted as separate or one? Are there separate entities of the same character if that character has alternate versions/storylines (such as modern day Sherlocks and the original, or Marvel 616 vs another multiverse)? How small can this dynamic break down and still work? Or is it just one unified entity appearing in multiple ways? Very curious about other’s thoughts or experiences with this dynamic. Thanks!
Personally I take it as one entity appearing in different forms. A good example would be the Greek/Roman aspect duality of the gods in the Percy Jackson series. Though that’s just me it’s all up to the person, I’m sure some people see them as distinct entities. Same as some people are hard Polytheists while others are soft Polytheists.
Sparrow
I attended a PC Paganism workshop in which the facilitator talked about how important it is to know exactly which version of a character you’re invoking. Are you wanting the Loki that turned a city into ice cream, or the one who’s done some pretty horrific things? Do you want the Tony Stark from Demon in a Bottle or the
fucking horribleSuperior Iron Man arc? Because all of these versions have power in terms of people’s belief and discussion and emotions, the facilitator said, they’re all aspects of the individual character. In this sense, it be one entity (a tulpa, a deity, however you interpret this) appearing in different ways.On the other hand, in the case of Sherlock Holmes, we have what’s ostensibly the same character being reinterpreted in hugely different ways that have no relation to one another except the source material, unlike comics, which are one long complicated plot with the same Tony Stark and the same Loki. You could argue that RDJ!Holmes is a different entity from original!Holmes who is different from Grenada!Holmes, like how people think of the Greek and Roman deities that are, to one degree or another, related but not quite the same. Brothers who share a single closet, so to speak (Sherlock Holmes, in this example), rather than one person with too many outfits (Tony Stark).
That’s not even getting into the possibility that the PC Pagan entities are actually ‘costumes’ that more traditional deities are putting on. Wonder Woman speaks closely to Athena and Lucifer to, well, Sandman’s Lucifer Morningstar. Nuada may find common ground through Altaïr, Týr through Ratonhnhaké:ton, the Dagda through Ezio.
But like Sparrow says, it’s up to the individual and their interpretation of polytheism.
– mountain hound
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